Children at schools in the capital should follow a "London curriculum", education experts said today.

Pupils would be taught about London in geography, history, science and English lessons.

The proposals will be made to Boris Johnson in a report he commissioned into the state of education in the capital, the Evening Standard has learned.

The London curriculum would be brought in for children in the final year of primary school and end when they start studying for GCSEs at 14.

Experts said it could help stop gang violence. Tony Sewell, who is heading the Mayor’s inquiry, said: “A London curriculum will enhance London pride, not in a specific postcode but within London as a whole. It would get children to really feel they are part of a city and that it belongs to them.”

Mr Sewell said the London curriculum has been supported by Education Secretary Michael Gove, which is significant as the Mayor has no direct statutory powers over education.

Ken Livingstone has hinted he would take over the running of schools if he is elected Mayor in May.

Mr Sewell said pupils from countries such as France get more in-depth knowledge of London when they visit than pupils who go to school here.

He claimed children are often stuck in classrooms because teachers do not use the resources that are on their doorstep. “London teachers don’t realise that all this stuff is around them. They are locked in their classrooms or in a particular way of thinking.”

Mr Sewell’s report will be published in September, with an interim report out in the summer.

He said English teachers should use novels by London authors such as Charles Dickens while history teachers could take trips to cemeteries or “blue plaque” buildings. In science pupils could visit the Science Museum and study London-born scientists.

City Hall should be used for training teachers in how to become more “scholarly”, he added, with seminars run there by London experts.

Mr Sewell said schools would still follow the national curriculum, which would be enhanced by the London studies. “We will be making recommendations and looking for funding to make this a meaningful way of getting the curriculum into schools,” he said.

The board conducting the inquiry, which includes Eton’s Head Master Anthony Little, has also spoken out about the intense pressure on school places in the capital. It found that one third of families did not manage to get their child into their first choice school last year — double the proportion in the rest of the country.